The journey which began on December 14, 2006 is coming to an end on this 15th day of the third month of 2009. now it has come to evolve; evolve to the next stage.

Although i started to prepare a draft of my 'last post' in 'Ledger', like many of my other ventures, it never went past the initial stage.

When i started blogging almost 3 years ago, i never though i would be continuing for this long. I thank everyone of my readers (i know there are a few who regularly checks in here) and everyone who has visited my little blog at some point in time for their valuable support, comments and criticisms.

Today am going to Bangalore: on a JLL assignment (my last as a V&S Article). I dont think i will be able to come back before 16th which means am gonna miss my 'independence day' celebrations. However it seems only fitting that i have to spend the last days of my articleship in Bangalore as I started my articleship (sort of) with a trip to Bangalore. That part of my life has come full circle.

March generally marks the end of an academic year, in my case it marks the end of Articleship. Now a mere 14 days remain.. An eventful chapter of my life is going to end in a couple of weeks!!! But here i am, sitting in front of my PC, searching for words to fill up the void... No matter how happy i feel about my articleship completion, i cant leave the place without a .... Ooops, better not to use all the cheesy dialogues now, i have to use those in the traditional 'The End' post on March 15!!!So better wait!!

Update on Character Sketch: Some unknown hardware malfunction has compelled me to put the next wave of sketches on hold (Sorry!!! i tried, but the machine didnt.. Am warning ya, the machines are gonna take control of the world!! Sarah Connor was right!!!)

As the D-Day comes closer, am getting all sorts of threatening calls from those persons whose character sketch have not been posted here!!! This gives me happiness and fear at the same time: am happy because everyone accepted the sketches with enthusiasm and fear because my 'health' now depends on me posting more sketches!!!

So, in an act of self defense, i declare once again that the next sketch will be out before the end of this month!!! Am pretty sure that those who demanded the sketch may not be that happy when they see their sketches!!

Ledger 2.0 will come to an end on March 15, 2009. People have told me not to break a sad news at the beginning. But here am doing exactly the opposite. Many of you know that my articleship will be completed in March 15, 2009. I have decided to stop updating Ledger 2.0 from that day onwards.

GMCS is Finally over!!! It was fun for 15 days,now office awaits.. Day 14 was all about some more management games as we even enacted a 5 minute play. Last day (Day 15) was the big presentation day as 6 teams tried to decipher the case given for analysis. After all the powerpoints and presentations in the morning, we finally got the Certificates in the Valedictory Cermony held in the afternoon. Thus, the 15 day long 'hell in the cell' came to an end.

Day 9 & 10Days 9 & 10 were handled by VJ and he concentrated more on communication aspects. We did a couple of 'Role Plays' both individually and as a group. It was an interesting experience as we tried to solve seemingly complex tasks through Group discussions.

Days 11 & 12Days 11 & 12 were handled by Jagat. We concentrated on Body Language and Interview techniques. It was an interesting session. Body language session was very interesting as he explained real life experiences. He also explained some Interview techniques and some commonly asked interview questions.

Day 13Today morning we had the Public speech competition. I took the subject of 'Conflict management'. The whole competition was very interesting because everyone showed tremendous improvement in public speaking skills.Govindarajan was the trainer for today. He concentrated more on the Group aspects.

Morning session was all about Power points and presentations: How to do ppt presentations, what to do and what not to do in visual presentations etc. But post lunch, things really got interesting. We did multiple exercises on thinking hats and group decision making. Ohh, the facullty was VJ, an ex-IBM man.

The problem is that you have After two days of writing and 'gaming', today we were back on the floor with Group Discussion. There were 3 practice GDs and i participated in one of 'em (in other GDs i was an observer). It was, like public speaking, an eye-opening experience for me as i struggled to get involved in the discussion. Of the last 3 days, i think today was the best as everyone particiapted in the activities.

ResultsPCC-PE IIresults were announced today. Anitha, Sarada, Hari and Nikhil cleared and sadly others couldn't make it. Anitha also secured 46th place in the Merit List, a commendable performance indeed.My hearty congratulations to all..

GMCS : Today was all about developing writing skills: Writing memos, requests and other such correspondences and also about writing CVs. Compared to the first 4 days, i would say the whole energy level was littlie on the lower side today.

Results Part II : Tomorrow the November 08 PCC results will be published and quite a few of my colleagues are expecting the result (almost all of 'em have become 'pressure cookers'). I wish all of them all the very best...

After 3 days of learning and practicing posture, gestures, voice modulation, visualization etc the class needed a change and a change we got. Today was all about Leadership. We played 3 little leadership games and those were more introspective than the actual class. The faculty was Krishnamurthy (Krish).

Today was the last day of 'Public Speaking' classes and so we concentrated on impromptu speeches where one has to speak on a subject as and when it is given. No time is given to plan or think about the speech. It was fun and also an eye opener. I never thought, even in wildest dreams, that i can speak like this. We finished the day with an exercise on Visualization.

If, 3 days back, anyone had asked me to give a presentation, i would have searched for a way to escape from it. But now, i believe, i can manage a presentation in front of an audience. The butterflies in the stomach are still there, but i have learnt to handle my fear.

Surveys have showed that the one thing people fear the most is 'Public Speaking'. This is true in my case. Hell, i was hesitant to speak till few years back. Its only after i joined for articleship that i really started to mingle with others. But even then, public speaking was something i avoided. Whenever am asked to address a group, my heart start to beat fast, hands become sweaty and words wont come out. I am not saying that after 2 days of training my fear has completely gone,but its almost gone. There is one more day for Public speaking i.e tomorrow. The competition is on 4th of February.

So that was the first day of GMCS.. It was all about Case studies. We were asked to read few management cases and suggest solutions after identifying the solution. It was not that easy as in some instances the actual cases were more than 6 pages long. We were split into 5 teams and each were given a particular case to solve.We have been asked to put together a presentation about that particular case and present the same on 6th. I think tomorrow the topic is going to be public speaking. Now thats really gonna get interesting!! :(

My GMCS Course starts tomorrow. Trichur Branch, for the first time, will be conducting the course (that saves me from the daily trips to Eranakulam). I am not particularly fond of public speaking or delivering presentations etc, so its only natural that am bit nervous. I hope i can overcome these difficulties by the end of this 15 days 'Hell in a Cell' encounter. Watch this space for daily updates (i intend to post daily) about GMCS!!!

Finally the results are out!! Sreeja cleared both groups while Saandra, Anjish and Joseph Lal cleared one group. Of the 3, Saandra had, in an earlier attempt, cleared one group. Thus she has now completed the course alongwith Sreeja. The others couldnt make it.

Its going to be a sleepless night for some my colleagues as they anxiously wait for the November 08 final exam results which will be published sometime tomorrow afternoon. I did see some tense faces today in Office. I wish all the very best to all my colleagues expecting the result.

After keeping all of us in the dark for so long (may be because of the 'Satyam' asatyam and its implications), our beloved institute has finally declared that CPT-Final November 08 Exam results will be announced on 16th January.

Ok. I know that its not auspicious to start an year with bad news, but since all am hearing these days is bad news, i am left with no other options.

We have heard of Accounting Frauds happening in US or Europe (Who can forget legends like Enron and Worldcom??). Now Indiaalso has attained self reliance in this matter, thank to Satyam. SatyamComputers is/was the 4th Biggest IT Company in India (or so i heard).Today, Its chairman Ramalinga Raju, in a letter addressed to Board of Directors, SEBI Chairman and Stock Exchanges confessed Accounting Frauds to the tune of nearly Rs 7100 Crores, may be India's biggest accounting fraud till date!!

The next question that arises is :How did he do it? Well, Mr Raju explains that too. Non existent bankbalances and accrued interest, Overstated debtors balances, understated liabilities etc.. He hasnt disclosed further details as to how he actually did those things without troubling the auditors and other government agencies who are supposed to verify the statements.

Now something about auditors: I know that not all the CAs are 'alphabets of trust'. But i was hoping that those who carry out audit of such big entities will be impartial and will follow the auditing standards. How wrong i was!! Corruption has stained the proffession that has so much responsibility to the general public. 53000 employees of Satyam and countless others may loose jobs, thousands of shareholders will loose their investments, all because those who are supposed to find out frauds didnt and may be even worse, aided in committing the fraud. I hope ICAI will take strict action against those who have violated the 'trust' that CAs have built over the years.

About The Ledger Project

Ledger was an attempt to chronicle the life of a CA student undergoing articleship training in a small town CA Firm. I completed my articleship in March 2009 and since the purpose for which this blog was setup is complete, i am no longer updating it. You can go through the archives and get a feel of how it all went for us.

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About Ledger

Ledger was an attempt to chronicle the life of a CA student undergoing articleship training in a small town CA Firm. I completed my articleship in March 2009 and since the purpose for which this blog was setup is complete, i am no longer updating it. You can go through the archives and get a feel of how it all went for us.